For countless communities around the world, the presence of medicinal plants and the traditional knowledge of their properties and uses are crucial factors for ensuring health and prosperity.

We must act on a worldwide basis to ensure resilience and health for future generations.

Sacred Seeds is a global non-profit creating and supporting plant sanctuaries that address the rapid loss of biodiversity and cultural knowledge through living gardens, containing locally important plants focused on medicinals but including those of ceremonial, food, and craft use.

Sacred Seeds News

Sri Lanka is a country with rich biodiversity–about 3368 plant species belonging to 1294 genera and 132 families have been identified, and around 800 of these are endemic to Sri Lanka (Rajapakse, 1998). Most of these plants were utilized in building healthy rural communities under the precise guidance of traditional local healers, members of the elderly, and indigenous communities during the past. In addition, the forest played a vital role in fulfilling basic human needs ...Read More

On the continent of Africa, it is estimated that 60 to 95% of people “depend on traditional medicine for their primary health care needs” (van Andel et al., 2012). Medicinal plants are under pressure around the world, with thousands of species in trade globally, including for example, African cherry (Prunus africana) and ginseng (Panax spp.) (Baeg and So 2013; Payyappallimana and Subramanian, 2015). Although these species do not occur in Ghana, they provide useful models ...Read More

The Sacred Seeds Program, supported by New Chapter, sponsored the Nurturing Your Botanical Sanctuary workshop. This event took place on October 1st and 2nd, with experts, academics, and land stewards convened at Goldenseal Sanctuary in Rutland Ohio, which is the headquarters of the United Plant Savers (UPS) network. Their uniting force was a workshop focused on sanctuaries, sacred natural areas, and the conservation and cultivation of medicinal and rare plants. Nurturing Your Botanical Sanctuary had ...Read More

United Plant Savers merged with Sacred Seeds in 2015. Sacred Seeds is a global network of botanical sanctuaries preserving biodiversity and plant knowledge through living gardens, containing locally important plants focused on medicinals but including those of ceremonial, food, and craft use. The Sacred Seeds network started with the medicinal plant garden located at Finca Luna Nueva Lodge in Costa Rica, similar to how United Plant Savers Goldenseal Sanctuary in Ohio became the vision for ...Read More